COMMUNICATION WORKS NYC, PLLC

The first step in considering this question is thinking about how your child communicates. How are they developing in the areas of speech, language, and social skills?

If you have concerns regarding any of the areas below, an evaluation to determine if a need for intervention exists is the next step.

Language/Attention

• inability to attend to a simple, age appropriate story or picture book
• difficulty recognizing simple familiar objects or pictures
• producing few words or not progressing to connecting words and simple sentences when age appropriate.
• ability to produce sentences but they appear disjointed and without a clear subject or context
• difficulty comprehending simple commands
• difficulty understanding simple yes/no and "wh" questions
• does not respond or responds with "I don't know" consistently

Speech

• difficulty expressing needs and information intelligibly given child's age level
• signs of consistent frustration due to communication difficulty
• At age 3, consistent difficulty being understood by family/caregivers and/or inability to produce vowel sounds and consonants p,b,m,w
• At age 4, consistent difficulty communicating intelligibly with both caregivers and most unfamiliar listeners and/or inability to correctly produce consonants t,d,k,g,f,
• At age 5, inability to communicate intelligibly with unfamiliar listeners in most situations and/or inability to correctly produce most speech sounds
  
  

Social Skills

• difficulty in playing with peers appropriately
• difficulty in managing social situations with peers (initiating and maintaining simple age level conversations)
• difficulty maintaining appropriate eye contact in social situations
• difficulty with social cues such as body language and facial expression
• difficulty transitioning appropriately between activities
• difficulty creating friendships with peers